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Heel Pain: What High Heels Are Really Doing to Your Body

The price of beauty in heels is steep to say the least.

Designer shoe companies’ main focus is in the design of the high heels to enhance the length of women’s legs. However, what good are long and luscious legs when your feet are full of unappealing deformities? That’s right ladies. It’s time to ditch the shakily efforts to balance, lasting ailments, and sheer discomfort of the stilettos for a nice pair of flats because your feet are the primary support for everything above them.

On average, 72% of women wear heels at some point in their lives.

Most have no idea what this can do to their long-term health. Something as simple as being on your feet for long periods of time can cause chronic problems to your heels. More information on the causes of heel pain can be found here. Studies show that women have approximately four times as many foot problems as men, heels being one of the biggest factors contributing to this startling statistic.

Whether you’re putting on that go-to black dress or you’re getting ready for a typical day at work, a good pair of heels would match any outfit, making thousands of women fall prey this ill-advised choice of footwear. As the heels get higher, the pressure increases on the forefoot, allowing for more detrimental and lasting damage. Heels that are 3 inches or higher statistically shorten the Achilles tendon . Moreover, as the “stiletto” or pencil heel became trendier, foot ailments only increased as the thinness allows for less support on the ball of the foot.

Foot issues caused from continual heel use can range from minor issues such as bunions, warts, and ingrown nails to more serious ailments such as nerve damage, tendon rupture, and foot deformities. Every one of these conditions can be extremely painful if ignored and the consequences only add up over time when they go unnoticed. Often times, women do not notice these issues and continue wearing heels until the conditions are extremely painful and drastically affect their whole life. As society gets more and more demanding, juggling the work place and personal life, women cannot afford to miss a day of action due to foot pain.

A whopping 75% of the adult population in America has some sort of foot problem and approximately 40 million working days are lost in a single year because of back and foot problems. In most cases, these ailments caused by heels go unnoticed until the only solution left is foot surgery.

If you think you may be one of the thousands of women facing foot issues unknowingly caused by the continued use of heels, call our Los Angeles Office today at (310) 247-9255.